The government will push its stance on gas prices with the Slovak gas distributor Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP) as far as possible, said Prime Minister Robert Fico after his lunch with the Russian government’s vice-chairman, Igor Ivanovitch Setchin, on September 10 in Bratislava.
"SPP isn't owned by Slovak businessmen, so the state has no chance to take part in negotiations about prices," Fico said, adding that his Cabinet doesn't agree with SPP's proposal to raise gas prices by 20 percent.
He said that SPP paid no heed to the state's interests.
"It seems incorrect to me that we don't have information about the dealings of foreign shareholders," he said.
He called on the 49-percent-stake SPP owners Ruhrgas and Gaz de France to return SPP to the state. He offered them a price, but they refused. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
11. Sep 2008 at 9:00
